Life's a Riot on Capitol Hill.

Tom DeLay has decided to resign -- get this -- rather than "allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative personal campaign." No. It has nothing to do with his indictment or his extremely close ties to disgraced and now convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. No. It's all about the nastiness of "liberal Democrats" (of which by the way there might be two or three left in office).

As if his seat were really in danger. The alleged money launderer easily won his primary campaign and received glowing moral endorsements from some gathering that claims to be Christian, although they're probably Christian in the same way that the "German Democratic Republic" was a democracy. Given that DeLay hails from the suburbs of one of the most loathsome cities in the United States, it should be interesting to see what sort of slime comes forward to replace him -- give him or her a GOP sticker and the upright citizens will vote that way, so long as the candidate isn't a child rapist.

However, the Democrats are a pathetic bunch, between their kowtowing to Bush's rush to war, their utter inability to develop cohesive responses or alternative strategies (saying "I would still go to war but I would do it better" is not an alternative strategy). Then there's the whole Cynthia McKinney story. Regardless of her guilt or innocence, it's a complete failure on the part of her as an individual and the Democratic Party as a whole that this story has continued on. For the fools who act as handlers for Rep. McKinney, here's a tip on squelching a story: apologize early. This entire matter would have gone nowhere had McKinney had the grace to apologize -- even if she was not in the wrong.

In fact, here are the bones of a sample apology: "Rep. McKinney deeply regrets the misunderstanding that occurred at the security checkpoint. In her rush to make a meeting, she overlooked the very important security policies put in place to protect all Congressional staff; she has the greatest respect for the dedicated officers of the Capitol Police, and apologizes for the confusion that arose out of the incident."

However, Rep. McKinney feels she was the one who was wronged, and it didn't take long for the race card to get played. However, I think she should have played that differently and gone for more political points -- she should have feigned astonishment that the officer didn't recognize her since there were so few African American congresspeople who should therefore stick out and be easily remembered. In other words, rather than dubiously claiming that the officer would have let an unrecognized white guy rush through the security barriers, she should have used his lack of recognition as a moment to discuss the dearth of minorities in the legislature.

Instead, here's the story: arrogant out of touch professional politician Democrat believes security is for "the little people." Great job.

Still, I'd rather be in McKinney's position than DeLay's.